Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome to another episode of Outspoken as Usual.
Speaker 1: You're joined by journalists Amy and Sophie Torber And on
Speaker 1: today's episode of Under the Influence, we are so excited
Speaker 1: to be joined by Rob Milsey Mills. Now, for those
Speaker 1: who aren't like Sophie and I and who are totally
Speaker 1: obsessed with MILLSI when we're fourteen. Rob rose to stardom
Speaker 1: as a finalist on Australian Idol in two thousand and three.
Speaker 1: Since then, he's carved out a successful career in musical
Speaker 1: theater and scored himself a role on Australia's longest running soap. Neighbors.
Speaker 1: Get set for a fun chat where we discuss bathroom
Speaker 1: etiquette whilst holiday with a partner. We find out all
Speaker 1: the goss on what really happened in the Australian Idol mansion,
Speaker 1: and we also find out how Millsy caught the attention
Speaker 1: of his journalist's girlfriend, Georgie. We also discussed some pretty
Speaker 1: serious matters involving mental health, so if you are struggling,
Speaker 1: please call Lifeline. On thirteen eleven fourteen, Welcome back to Australia.
Speaker 1: I've seen via your Instagram some pretty amazing snaps of
Speaker 1: you and your lovely girlfriend Georgie in Europe. How was
Speaker 1: the trip?
Speaker 2: Oh, incredible, it was really it was the first time
Speaker 2: that Georgie and I had been on a big holiday together.
Speaker 2: So four weeks alone with your partner is I think
Speaker 2: it's always it's always daunting but also exciting, and it's
Speaker 2: proved to work out really well, like we've definitely taken
Speaker 2: our relationship to the next level. But yeah, we went
Speaker 2: to some really beautiful places. I think probably one of
Speaker 2: my favorites. Our favorite was Kyoto to going up to
Speaker 2: Fashimi and Ari the mountain with all the shrines, the
Speaker 2: tory gates and it was really beautiful. But yeah, we're
Speaker 2: going to Tokyo and over to London, and then we
Speaker 2: went to Paris and Brussels and Dubai on the way home.
Speaker 2: So it was a pretty extensive trip. But always we
Speaker 2: always realize, I said, the joy every time we're coming
Speaker 2: back astray is really how lucky we are here obviously,
Speaker 2: just economically with so much it was so much better
Speaker 2: off than a lot of other countries around the world.
Speaker 2: We're not fighting for space even in our even in
Speaker 2: our cities, and just yeah, we just we've just got
Speaker 2: We're so lucky to have been to being brought up here.
Speaker 2: That's that's a good Yeah. I don't think many people
Speaker 2: in Australia realized until they leave Australia to go, wow,
Speaker 2: we've actually I mean, it's beautiful in London and in Paris,
Speaker 2: all the beautiful buildings, but everything's old. Everything's new here,
Speaker 2: and it's from all the mistakes of past civilizations. We've
Speaker 2: we've done pretty well here. I mean, apart from our.
Speaker 3: Lack of.
Speaker 2: Lack of love for having indigenous we've we've we've done
Speaker 2: pretty well in this country.
Speaker 1: Now you've answered so beautifully. But I want to go
Speaker 1: back to the fact that this is your first holiday
Speaker 1: away with your girlfriend, because as I went to Europe
Speaker 1: with my boyfriend last year and what we found difficult
Speaker 1: was the toilet etiquette on a holiday because sometimes those
Speaker 1: rooms are quite small. Did you have cost could with
Speaker 1: all of that or any funny stories along the way?
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously when you first go to Tokyo, so
Speaker 2: we're first going to Japan, Yeah, couldn't wait to use
Speaker 2: the the bubblers, you know, couldn't wait to use I
Speaker 2: don't know what you call them, but they're fantastic, and
Speaker 2: both of us have decided we definitely want to get
Speaker 2: one of those toilets. It plays music for you.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, that's good.
Speaker 2: The seats are always warm, and I couldn't wait to
Speaker 2: ask her if she's you know, she's the the bubbler.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I don't think we had I think we
Speaker 2: we We're live a year and a half, so I
Speaker 2: think we both had that conversation like if you need
Speaker 2: to go, you need to Yeah, we're both obtusly we
Speaker 2: realized that has nothing nothing too crazy, but yeah, no, no,
Speaker 2: we'll find it on that front. I was just I
Speaker 2: just love those toilet suits. So I've got to say fantastic.
Speaker 1: Now. Now, I thought we go back by talking going
Speaker 1: back to two thousand and three when we all first
Speaker 1: met you on Australian Idol. You were only twenty one
Speaker 1: at the time, which is pretty crazy, and you became
Speaker 1: an instant household name. What was that time like in
Speaker 1: your life?
Speaker 2: It was it was fun, super fun for a young
Speaker 2: kid who'd never been in a plane before. So my
Speaker 2: first plane flight was the flight to go to Sydney
Speaker 2: to be in the top one hundred. So I mean,
Speaker 2: I've been on caravan camping trips as a family. I
Speaker 2: was like kept in a cage like Fritz or anything
Speaker 2: like that. But yeah, so I'd worked in a pub
Speaker 2: band for three years, like Thursday or Sunday nights, always
Speaker 2: singing in bands, so I saw I've already had a
Speaker 2: bit of confidence as a stage performer. So I wasn't
Speaker 2: like to a singer who's never sung before, but yeah,
Speaker 2: to be part of the machine that was Australian Idol
Speaker 2: and be part of the first sort of big reality
Speaker 2: TV show where I think I started to realize that
Speaker 2: there's nothing real about reality TV. But I was just happy,
Speaker 2: go lucky kind of kids and not very self aware
Speaker 2: at that age. It's quite naive I thought I was.
Speaker 2: I think I had some self confidence, but probably not
Speaker 2: as much self worth as probably needed to go on
Speaker 2: a show like that. So I wasn't a two years
Speaker 2: later that I realized, oh, I didn't actually know who
Speaker 2: I was. So every time I've done a chat with
Speaker 2: kids at schools or I highly recommend kids have a
Speaker 2: bit more of an understanding of who they are and
Speaker 2: what they want as a as a person before they
Speaker 2: go on my shows, because I think when I was
Speaker 2: on there, I was just trying to be someone maybe
Speaker 2: a little bit. But at the same time, I was
Speaker 2: just trying to figure out who I was, which is
Speaker 2: which is kind of difficult to figure that out in
Speaker 2: front of you know, millions of people who are watching
Speaker 2: on television. They seem to have had an idea of
Speaker 2: what the network kind of had an idea of what
Speaker 2: they wanted for me and as a character on the show,
Speaker 2: and I was like, sure, I'll be that party guy
Speaker 2: Alarak and you need me to be like sure, that's
Speaker 2: kind of who I was. But years later, you know,
Speaker 2: I realized that I'm not really that guy, so I've
Speaker 2: got a little bit more depth. But it wasn't ntil
Speaker 2: years later to work that out.
Speaker 1: Well, I suppose it's hard because people do forget you
Speaker 1: were so young when you're on Australian idol and I
Speaker 1: don't know if this was part of the role or
Speaker 1: it got thrown on you, but you were the heart
Speaker 1: throb of the show. What was it like getting so
Speaker 1: much female attention at such a young age.
Speaker 2: I was okay, it was as I said, I'd worked
Speaker 2: every sort of every weekend, so those sort of you know,
Speaker 2: those formative teenage years where people will go out to
Speaker 2: university parties and a lots of stuff. I worked those
Speaker 2: nights Thursday to Sundays, so I never really went out
Speaker 2: picking out girls. And during that time I was always
Speaker 2: the guy singing in the band and then I'd pack
Speaker 2: up the gear and put in the car and drive home.
Speaker 2: So for me, it's like I'm kind of off the leash.
Speaker 2: And also I don't have to I don't have to
Speaker 2: sing thirty songs a night in the band. I have
Speaker 2: really very little responsibility here. I have to sing one
Speaker 2: song a week instead of you know, a hundred. So
Speaker 2: I was like, I'll just going party a bit of it. See, well,
Speaker 2: that's like And I loved it. I really loved the
Speaker 2: I really liked the partying aspect. I was like, I
Speaker 2: wonder if one does this every weekend. It's great fun.
Speaker 2: But the female session was great. But also, you know,
Speaker 2: it's shallow and it's you know, I'm still looking. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm a lover. I'm a lover of love that's taken
Speaker 2: me a while to find that person.
Speaker 1: Oh, do you have any crazy sort of fan stories, because,
Speaker 1: as we're saying, obviously the girls did go crazy for you,
Speaker 1: did you have any whether did they stalk idle HQ
Speaker 1: or anything like that. Did anyone kind of try and
Speaker 1: get in there.
Speaker 2: Or yeah, yeah, there were there are a few girls
Speaker 2: that actually came to the house that tried to tried
Speaker 2: to break in. We had security guards. We had security
Speaker 2: guards there so which was also great to keep the
Speaker 2: people out, but also the were are to keep us in.
Speaker 2: But it's okay. We managed to jump the fence. I
Speaker 2: managed to get all the guys out of the house.
Speaker 2: One night we went to this party in the city
Speaker 2: which had heard about. We've gotten a bit of trouble
Speaker 2: for it, obviously as the ringleader. Obvious we got a
Speaker 2: bit of trouble for it.
Speaker 1: Was Sebastian there or was he just the goody goody
Speaker 1: in the house?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, and everyone go over out. It might have
Speaker 2: been the top one in the top. I think it was. Yes,
Speaker 2: us over the back fence of the next door neighbors
Speaker 2: and ran out their driveway. We all jumped on a
Speaker 2: train into the city and had a massive night. It
Speaker 2: was like on a Sunday night after the show.
Speaker 1: Kind of did people just go crazy when they saw
Speaker 1: you all because you guys were literally sort of I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think I feel like you guys were
Speaker 1: the most famous people in Australia at that time, because
Speaker 1: that's the first time we'd really seen a reality show
Speaker 1: like Australian Idol take off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well it was pretty it was pretty weird. I
Speaker 2: couldn't understand it. I still find it weird how people
Speaker 2: want to talk to me in the street like just
Speaker 2: a guy, just the guy. But thank you for your annextion.
Speaker 2: Yeah it was. It was. It was pretty wild back then.
Speaker 2: It's still. I mean it's still pretty wild, depending on
Speaker 2: the venue or the time of night that you're out,
Speaker 2: usually alcohol, dependent on how how people treat you as well.
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was, it was. It was pretty pretty
Speaker 2: I think it was the most popular show the country
Speaker 2: I'd ever seen. I think something like that. I think
Speaker 2: it's still is. I remember Usha telling me not long ago,
Speaker 2: that's still I think that that Grand Final of Australia
Speaker 2: still think the highest rating show in Australia.
Speaker 1: That was crazy.
Speaker 2: It's pretty ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Well, on the flip side, there's themselves. Well on the
Speaker 1: flip side, there's obviously all this admiration that comes with
Speaker 1: the love of Australian idol. This was a time, I suppose,
Speaker 1: when we didn't have social media, but there were internet forums.
Speaker 1: How tough was it facing that online criticism.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I remember my brother saying, don't read the forums,
Speaker 2: and I was like, sure, so I did, and yeah
Speaker 2: there's a bit of a bit of a bit of
Speaker 2: hate floating around for everyone. It wasn't just for me,
Speaker 2: it was for everyone. If you know you had your favorite,
Speaker 2: then you would you would disc the other other, which
Speaker 2: I found really bizarre. I think any kind of faceless media,
Speaker 2: whether it's a blog or even newspaper or magazines, can
Speaker 2: get quite vicious because you don't actually have to stand
Speaker 2: there and defend yourself, so people just it brings out
Speaker 2: the I think it sometimes brings out the worst in
Speaker 2: human kind.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I remember being pretty disappointed and feeling pretty sad about
Speaker 2: it all, but had a pretty good coping mechanism. I've
Speaker 2: just put that in the box. Rub don't deal with
Speaker 2: that like most I think young people have. Was until
Speaker 2: years later you realize, oh, you can go to therapy,
Speaker 2: you talk about it, you can actually move on with doer.
Speaker 2: So I didn't have those coping as I said, the
Speaker 2: coping mechanism I head back then was just put it
Speaker 2: in a box and do it all later. But it
Speaker 2: all just builds up, and you know, there's a giant
Speaker 2: amount of sadness that you carry around with.
Speaker 1: You that you don't realize and selling your elimination. You
Speaker 1: have spoken about that you suffered a panic attack after
Speaker 1: being mobbed by a crowd on the Gold Coast. Just
Speaker 1: how tough was that time for you?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. It was pretty horrible. Actually, it was
Speaker 2: just all that, I suppose that adrenaline from the showw and.
Speaker 3: The come down all at once, and also the sadness
Speaker 3: that you've been carrying, multiplier with alcohol from that you're
Speaker 3: consuming and also that other people are consuming.
Speaker 2: It was a lot. I'd experienced a panic attack at
Speaker 2: a shopping center a few weeks earlier that we were
Speaker 2: doing some fignatures, some shining at I'm a quite extroverted
Speaker 2: person for that, so we don't know what that means.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean I'm outward in nature. It means I
Speaker 2: get my energy from other people, from other sources. So
Speaker 2: when there's so much energy coming at me from whether
Speaker 2: it's lots of people, that is actually really quite daunting.
Speaker 2: So this particular yeah, this particular night. It was just
Speaker 2: lots of people just crowding around almost I was getting
Speaker 2: in headlocks and people just wanting like pulling out my
Speaker 2: clothes and pulling at me to get photos or it
Speaker 2: was nothing violent about it, but it was. It was
Speaker 2: violent in nature because it wasn't really I wasn't really
Speaker 2: consenting to any of it. I was like just trying
Speaker 2: to walk to you know, I think I was just
Speaker 2: catching up with a matees, just trying to walk to
Speaker 2: the next bar or something. Yeah, the panic attack wasn't great.
Speaker 2: Ended up in a lot of a lot of sadness.
Speaker 2: But I didn't, as I said, didn't really talk about
Speaker 2: it until years later because I thought, oh, this is
Speaker 2: just this is just all part of it. But yeah,
Speaker 2: it's not not something and having you know, suicidal thoughts
Speaker 2: for a for a split second and then it's not
Speaker 2: something I'm we're gonna say, I'm not proud of, but
Speaker 2: it's not something I really liked. Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't.
Speaker 2: It wasn't a great feeling.
Speaker 1: And you're of close so proud are you, ambassador, And
Speaker 1: as you mentioned, you did bravely share your story on
Speaker 1: the ABC about that moment you did contemplate some you know,
Speaker 1: some you had some sidle thoughts. Can you talk us
Speaker 1: through why it's so important for you to share your
Speaker 1: story like that with people.
Speaker 2: I think it's because I didn't realize just how once
Speaker 2: you once you kind of once you kind of take
Speaker 2: ownership of it, it diffuses its power over you. And
Speaker 2: that goes through a lot of things, whether it's a
Speaker 2: suicidal thought or whether it's a I mean, I'm not
Speaker 2: saying it just completely just diffuses its power, but it
Speaker 2: does help. Yeah, I think people need to know that
Speaker 2: they're not alone in this, and I think that's the
Speaker 2: one thing. It's human nature. We want to feel a
Speaker 2: part of something. We want to feel we want to
Speaker 2: feel heard, and we want to feel part of a community.
Speaker 2: We want to feel part of something. And if you're
Speaker 2: feeling so alone, you feel like you're the only one
Speaker 2: and there's a really scary place to be. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: for football people to talk about that anxiety or their
Speaker 2: depression or they're just they're just sadness, just general sadness
Speaker 2: is actually okay. I think people don't talk about that
Speaker 2: with the kind of harp on this idealism that being
Speaker 2: happy or finding happiness or is the thing that is
Speaker 2: the way of life. But some people are just sitting sadness.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys have seen that awesome
Speaker 2: Disney movie where there's joy and there's sadness and there's anger,
Speaker 2: Like they're all they're a part of us, and they're
Speaker 2: all equal or equal parts. So I think the reason
Speaker 2: I'm an ambassador for it and outspoken about is because
Speaker 2: it just needs to be talked about, like it just
Speaker 2: we need to break down the stigma of mental health.
Speaker 2: And I'm also going to see a regular counselor or
Speaker 2: a cycle psychologist or whatever you whatever you see. I
Speaker 2: think is it doesn't mean that you're crazy. It just
Speaker 2: means that you like to talk about your issues that
Speaker 2: you have and that and like like I saw a hamstring,
Speaker 2: you go to all physios to get it rubbed. Why
Speaker 2: not go see it. It's like to get your brain rubbed.
Speaker 2: Like that's pretty much all it is. It should it
Speaker 2: should just be in the social norm for us. And
Speaker 2: I'm just trying to break down those those barriers so
Speaker 2: there's more people that we can talk talk about stuff,
Speaker 2: so therefore it doesn't become more more of an issue.
Speaker 2: Than it is.
Speaker 1: And do you think it's also particularly important to be
Speaker 1: having this conversation with young men as well. I mean,
Speaker 1: you look at the suicide rates in Australia and it's
Speaker 1: such a huge demographic. Is his men sadly?
Speaker 2: Oh? One hundred that's so that's one of the reasons
Speaker 2: why why I do this, because we sort of have this.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a strange thing, maybe it's a blokey seeing.
Speaker 2: Still I think lesson left out. If you speak to
Speaker 2: a lot of young men these days, they're quite open
Speaker 2: with the feelings. And there's a lot more men's groups
Speaker 2: that are starting up by younger people and older people
Speaker 2: as well, actually that they realize the importance of copmental health.
Speaker 2: But yeah, there's also ratement in Australia for young men's
Speaker 2: it's catastrophic. Whether it's the sadness comes from their upbringing
Speaker 2: or relationships, or whether it's from from from gambling debts
Speaker 2: that they put themselves into, or it's yeah, it's pretty
Speaker 2: horrible that it's not being brought to the attention of
Speaker 2: the government enough or the government is not doing enough.
Speaker 2: They're coming up with all these all these ways through
Speaker 2: what's the word of master here? They're not doing any
Speaker 2: only there's enough preventative measures being taken place at the moment.
Speaker 1: It's so hard as well, because sometimes people can seem
Speaker 1: so happy from the outside and seem like they've got
Speaker 1: it all. And I suppose looking at you when you
Speaker 1: were having these hard times, people would have looked at
Speaker 1: you and gone, oh my god, he's living the life.
Speaker 1: Do you think it is hard that you know, there's
Speaker 1: that thought in people's mind that someone who's depressed or
Speaker 1: going through difficult times is usually down and out, that
Speaker 1: they can't be having a great time, very successful.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, well, und percent. I think it's always especially
Speaker 2: those people. If you have that person in your life,
Speaker 2: is the person who's always listening to others there, I
Speaker 2: think they're prime, prime candidate. It's always good for you
Speaker 2: to check in on them. Yeah, I think most of
Speaker 2: the time it is. It is the friend that you
Speaker 2: have in your friend group. It's the one who's always
Speaker 2: the shoulder. I've got this. The thing I always think
Speaker 2: about when people give their their their energy or they're sad,
Speaker 2: they're sad energy or their their problems to to someone
Speaker 2: that's you're up, you're uplifting it off their shoulders, but
Speaker 2: you're taking it on. I don't know that they're just
Speaker 2: words or they're just feelings or whatever, but that have
Speaker 2: to go. So the energy you have to go somewhere
Speaker 2: and you shouldn't have to carry that. I always thinking
Speaker 2: about it with my CYC. I would say, you go
Speaker 2: and talk to someone. Right, you're taking on everyone's stuff
Speaker 2: every day. You have to then offload it to somewhere,
Speaker 2: like try to get yourself carbon neutral kind of thing,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Like, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I feel like it's passed the energy around
Speaker 2: and always look after their friend. Who's you know, who's
Speaker 2: the one who's always this thing?
Speaker 1: Gosh, our mom should probably go on unleash on somebody.
Speaker 1: The amount of stuff from my sisters.
Speaker 2: Exactly, exactly exactly, and whether it's you know, if you're
Speaker 2: on a stage in your life or you're you know,
Speaker 2: your adult enough and your your mum and you yourselves
Speaker 2: are adults, and yeah, definitely pass the energy back between
Speaker 2: between each other. But yeah, I can't recommend going to
Speaker 2: see a counselor or a psych highly enough. The best
Speaker 2: thing about that is you don't actually have to get
Speaker 2: anything back. You don't take on your psych energy. You
Speaker 2: pass it up. It's free. It's not free, but you
Speaker 2: get six years for free from the government, which is
Speaker 2: bloody great that I.
Speaker 1: Didn't realize that. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. If you just go to your GP and
Speaker 2: you sign up for a mental health plan, yeah, you
Speaker 2: get six three sessions for the psych which is bloody great.
Speaker 2: So good, it's pretty awesome. I think the thing is
Speaker 2: is just saying, oh, I don't want to sign up
Speaker 2: for a mental health plan. That sounds like I'm crazy,
Speaker 2: Like you're not crazy. You just I just think, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we just need to break down that stigma.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's so much taboo around it. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so stupid. Imagine saying you get free six
Speaker 2: three hudeo second years. Yeah your boody even absolutely for sure.
Speaker 1: I was going to say, are you thankful that in
Speaker 1: two thousand and three when you were on Australian Idol,
Speaker 1: social media wasn't as well as big as it is now.
Speaker 1: Do you feel sorry for some of the reality TV
Speaker 1: show contestants that are having to put up with the
Speaker 1: kind of trolling they get online? Uh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yes, and no. As I said before, I
Speaker 2: think it's good to know who you are and you know,
Speaker 2: build up your self work before you go on those shows.
Speaker 2: It is entirely up to you whether you go on
Speaker 2: the show. It's not it's not entirely after you what
Speaker 2: people say about you. Yeah, I'm kind of glad that
Speaker 2: I went in there at a time where there wasn't
Speaker 2: as much. I think people just need to be a
Speaker 2: bit more kind and compassion compassionate. I had a friend
Speaker 2: write something on Facebook during the week Casey and we're
Speaker 2: all good friends with Casey, and she was on Eurovision
Speaker 2: some contrast during the week and didn't didn't win, and
Speaker 2: people were saying all this hateful stuff about the about
Speaker 2: the winner. I didn't, I didn't see any of it.
Speaker 2: I was overseas. My friend said, hey, guys, we're all
Speaker 2: this industry together. We're all active singers, dancing, we're all performers,
Speaker 2: and we know what it's like to be on the
Speaker 2: receiving end of of this. So just because your friend
Speaker 2: didn't win, maybe just be thankful that she made it
Speaker 2: in the first place, or congratulate the person who did win.
Speaker 2: Stop stop spending this this hatred. I don't know where
Speaker 2: the hatred is coming from, coming from Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm still I think Facebook and Twitter and sometimes Instagram
Speaker 2: comments and can bring out the worst in can bring
Speaker 2: out the worst in us.
Speaker 1: Oh, definitely. I listened to a lot of Gary V.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you listen to him, but he
Speaker 1: does talk a lot about sometimes the people who are
Speaker 1: putting those hateful comments out of the people that need a.
Speaker 2: Big hug, I totally agree, they're the people that they
Speaker 2: definitely need the most, the most hugs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And I mean moving on since your
Speaker 1: stint on Australian Idol, you've had an incredibly successful career
Speaker 1: in musical theater. What is it that you love most
Speaker 1: about being on stage?
Speaker 2: I think for musical For me, for musical theater, I
Speaker 2: think it's still the most powerful form of storytelling that
Speaker 2: there is that we have. So you combine the script,
Speaker 2: you can bind the music, and also then you combine dance.
Speaker 2: I just thinks, and also it's live. What an incredible
Speaker 2: medium to do. That's like three forms of storytelling all
Speaker 2: in one, and when you nail it's just it's sublime.
Speaker 2: I think there's there's only a few I will probably
Speaker 2: get yelled out by the musical theater of purists. Here,
Speaker 2: there's an a few for me that I'm not a
Speaker 2: massive lover of musical theater. I'm just a massive lover
Speaker 2: of storytelling and good art, and so The Wicked, I think,
Speaker 2: really ticks all those boxes, the storytelling of it's the
Speaker 2: first sort of show with two female leads. It's all
Speaker 2: that female empowerment where the prince is the supporting the
Speaker 2: supporting role, which which then you know spur on shows
Speaker 2: like like Frozen and Frozen being the first kind of
Speaker 2: Disney movie where you didn't have to have a prince
Speaker 2: to save the day. It's it's the love of the
Speaker 2: two sisters that is the thing that makes some better people.
Speaker 2: I think that's I think it's a really strong message
Speaker 2: to show young women and also to show young boys.
Speaker 2: So yeah, but musical theater is yeah, went done right
Speaker 2: is just it's fantastic. There's a show like Jersey Boys
Speaker 2: is an incredible jukebox musical, And I went to a
Speaker 2: Waitress Overseas, which is another really fun, really fun show. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's something there's something still to be said about. I mean,
Speaker 2: we love sitting in front of our TVs and our
Speaker 2: big screens and watching Binging, you know, Binging, a Netflix series.
Speaker 2: There's I think the theater will still thrive in this country.
Speaker 2: I think I read a stat something last year about
Speaker 2: it's still one of the biggest forms of tourism in
Speaker 2: every city every year is the theater. The people will
Speaker 2: keep going to see live theater because there is the
Speaker 2: live aspect of it. Something could go wrong at any moment,
Speaker 2: and also it's thrilling, definitely.
Speaker 1: Well, other than the theater, you're obviously on Neighbors as well.
Speaker 1: What was it like being asked to be on such
Speaker 1: an iconic Australian show.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's a dream come true. I grew up around
Speaker 2: the corner from Neighbors actually, so about two suburbs away.
Speaker 2: I used to play baseball behind where they film Neighbors,
Speaker 2: behind Ramsey Street, so I would see those. I would
Speaker 2: see the vans where they parked them in the car park,
Speaker 2: and you know the green rooms or the Star the
Speaker 2: Star trucks, just hoping to catch a glimpse, catch a
Speaker 2: glimpse of all the Neighbors stars back in the day.
Speaker 2: But now yeah, so I've been on there for three
Speaker 2: years on and off. This last year I've been in
Speaker 2: full time as a character which has been really, really,
Speaker 2: really tough. They say that it's a really great training
Speaker 2: ground for young actors, and it really is a good schooling.
Speaker 2: I think the last month I was on the show,
Speaker 2: I think I shot one hundred and fifty scenes in
Speaker 2: four weeks. Oh gosh, which is a lot. Cons if
Speaker 2: you're usually you know about fifteen to twenty scenes a
Speaker 2: week usually, So it was like, yeah, it was it
Speaker 2: was a lot. It was a lot too. Yeah. So
Speaker 2: it has been sort of a dream coming true. And
Speaker 2: I've learned so much from all the actors on days,
Speaker 2: like Jackie wood Burn and Alan Fletcher and Rymelan. He's
Speaker 2: just so to gun.
Speaker 1: Did they all live up to the reputation? You know, like,
Speaker 1: obviously everyone watches Carl and Susan and as you say, Tony,
Speaker 1: obviously you've mentioned their real names, but I'm just going
Speaker 1: to call them Carl, Susan and Toty. Did they live
Speaker 1: to their characters on the show or are they completely
Speaker 1: different to what you see?
Speaker 2: No, just super lovely humans. I mean different different they're
Speaker 2: playing I think, different versions of themselves. But no, they're
Speaker 2: just lovely, loving humans who from the first day they
Speaker 2: just there to help like, because they've been like mentors
Speaker 2: for me throughout my time on the show. I went
Speaker 2: and did some publicity with Jackie in London a few
Speaker 2: years ago. We had this, We had this wonderful dinner
Speaker 2: and I just said to her, I don't know if
Speaker 2: you realize this, but like many children, you basically raised me.
Speaker 2: I would come home and maybe what she dream when
Speaker 2: I was having dinner. So yeah, that was my mother.
Speaker 2: But there's also you. So she's raised so many children
Speaker 2: across Australia and at the UK.
Speaker 1: She would have been a bloody superstar in the UK.
Speaker 1: Were people just lining up to take photos with it?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, They're like, who are you on
Speaker 2: the show?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 1: I don't know how you find the time to do it.
Speaker 1: But you've also ventured into the world of business, starting
Speaker 1: your own talent management agency. What inspired you to start
Speaker 1: the business? Oh?
Speaker 2: Look, to be honest, guys, it's just me at the moment.
Speaker 2: I'm just repping myself. I realized, after several years paying
Speaker 2: management of your wage, I went, this is just ridiculous.
Speaker 2: They answered the phone, they answer emails, and I realized
Speaker 2: I've got a phone number, and I've got an email
Speaker 2: address and I'm not bad at the chat, so I
Speaker 2: decided to steal it myself. I think in the future
Speaker 2: I'll definitely branch out and take take on more people.
Speaker 2: I mean, I've always been a mentor for other up
Speaker 2: and coming performers and always happy to give advice. I
Speaker 2: think it because I've worked in all forms of different
Speaker 2: media or mediums, so like whether it's TV, film, in
Speaker 2: the music industry or the music called the musicals. So
Speaker 2: I feel like I've got a pretty good network of
Speaker 2: people and an understanding of each industry. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: definitely down the track. But at this stage, I just
Speaker 2: I'm still too busy myself to to look after anyone else.
Speaker 2: But I think, yeah, I keep saying to my partner,
Speaker 2: She's like, you definitely should do it, Okay, but not
Speaker 2: just yet. I think I still I still want to
Speaker 2: work on myself.
Speaker 1: We'll talking about Georgie, your beautiful partner, who's an amazing
Speaker 1: reporter on the ABC. We hear that you may have
Speaker 1: slid into a d MS and that's how you guys
Speaker 1: got together. Is that true?
Speaker 2: This is true? Yeah. A couple of years ago, I
Speaker 2: picked on the TV over summer and I'm a lover
Speaker 2: of I'm an old guy, so I'm a lover of ABC.
Speaker 2: So I noticed that there was a new sports presenter
Speaker 2: on the show on ABC Breakfast, and I quickly googled
Speaker 2: who the hell is the new sports girl on ABC?
Speaker 2: I think pretty much for it for it and I
Speaker 2: realized that Georgie Tunney we have mutual friends, and I
Speaker 2: sent her a dmy on Instagram.
Speaker 1: What was her reaction?
Speaker 2: Uh, To be honest, it took a few days for
Speaker 2: her to reply, and she's obviously seeing someone, But I
Speaker 2: just said, I noticed that your news in Melbourne, and
Speaker 2: I know what it's like to be new in a
Speaker 2: new city, and if you'd like someone to take it
Speaker 2: around and I'll show you that, show you some good
Speaker 2: coffee spots. Been more than happy to be a tour
Speaker 2: guide for you. And I took a few days for
Speaker 2: her to get back to me, And anyway, we we
Speaker 2: didn't really see each other for about two or three months,
Speaker 2: but I invited her to my opening night. I was
Speaker 2: doing a play called Puffs, which is a Harry Potter
Speaker 2: kind of very funny, a forward way play. So she
Speaker 2: came to opening night and yeah, we've been dating everything.
Speaker 1: Oh, so she was negging you. I've heard that. I've
Speaker 1: only recently heard that saying negging late.
Speaker 2: That's what that's my thought. But then I realized she's
Speaker 2: just really not cool and doesn't even know anything about
Speaker 2: dating or begging. She's just a really lovely kind Uh. Yeah,
Speaker 2: she's a dark I would like to say she's a
Speaker 2: hot nerd. Yeah, so she's she has no idea about
Speaker 2: I thought that that's what she's doing. She's a bit
Speaker 2: of a you know, she's a bit of a place.
Speaker 2: She's flame me here. She just had no idea.
Speaker 1: So obviously she's a reporter, and sof and I are
Speaker 1: both journalists, so we know what the reality of living
Speaker 1: with journalists are who pick up on your spelling and
Speaker 1: all that kind of thing. What did you discover dating
Speaker 1: a journalist or what have you discovered?
Speaker 2: I think the hardest thing is Georgie work's breakfast television,
Speaker 2: so she's up at three and every day. So it's
Speaker 2: I live with someone who's permanently got jet lag. So
Speaker 2: that's pretty pretty hard, I think at times just for
Speaker 2: her to keep her energy up, and then there's times
Speaker 2: she's like I want to stay up and you know,
Speaker 2: I want to start with you, and at nighttime I
Speaker 2: go to bed because if you don't go to bed,
Speaker 2: you're going to be tired tomorrow. And then it just
Speaker 2: keeps escalating on snowballing. So I think at times it's
Speaker 2: been hard because of lack of you get a lack
Speaker 2: of sleep. But as far as the spelling, I'm also
Speaker 2: grabbing Nazi, so we get along really well. There.
Speaker 1: Oh that taaps good. I love it. We do have
Speaker 1: some quick fire questions for you if you're happy to
Speaker 1: take apart. Sorry, this is really bad when you've got
Speaker 1: jet lag, because we'll just fire them at you. So
Speaker 1: what's your favorite TV show? At the moment.
Speaker 2: I showed that I don't miss is? Have you been
Speaker 2: paying attention?
Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say neighbors for a sect?
Speaker 1: What's the best perk of being on neighbors?
Speaker 2: The best perk.
Speaker 1: Other than hanging out with Jackie?
Speaker 2: The best is the best. The best thing I suppose
Speaker 2: is learning scripts and having having to learn scripts every day.
Speaker 2: It really it teaches your brain how to how to
Speaker 2: pick up how to pick up scripts, which is really
Speaker 2: really it's a really good skill to have.
Speaker 1: That's great. Dog or cats?
Speaker 2: Dogs?
Speaker 1: Damn it. Sorry, we're cat lovers here at outspoken Carl
Speaker 1: or Susan.
Speaker 2: Don't do that. That's that's too heart Now, come on, it's.
Speaker 1: Their characters, so we're not saying Jackie or Alan then Susan.
Speaker 2: Most you'll see why, you'll see wine a few months.
Speaker 1: Okay, excellent. Most famous person.
Speaker 2: You've met, oh, look, most famous to me is still
Speaker 2: John Farnam, so I'll say John Fardam, I bloody love it,
Speaker 2: love it.
Speaker 1: Now. We know you don't need dating apps because you
Speaker 1: use Instagram, But what's your thoughts on dating apps?
Speaker 2: I used the dating apps for a little while, and
Speaker 2: I look, I've heard some really great stories. But I
Speaker 2: also I don't know whether people didn't realize it was me,
Speaker 2: or didn't recognize it was me, or I just wasn't
Speaker 2: getting the matches that I thought I was going to get.
Speaker 1: People probably thought you were a fake, like this is not.
Speaker 2: But I wandered a few days, and I think for me,
Speaker 2: it was make sure you look like the person that's
Speaker 2: on your photos. Don't put a filter on on your
Speaker 2: on your photos and put a photo up that's actually
Speaker 2: so when the person meets you, they go, oh, that's it.
Speaker 2: You look like the person in your photo.
Speaker 1: I've heard your men to put up a worse photo,
Speaker 1: so people go, wow, they were even better than their photos.
Speaker 2: Great, that's even better then. I love I love that.
Speaker 2: I think that that for me, I learned a few dates. Wow,
Speaker 2: you have not lied to me.
Speaker 1: What a deal break is in a relationship for you?
Speaker 1: Not looking like your Tinder photo?
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, filters, Uh, No, deal breakers like lack of kindness.
Speaker 2: I think I'm pretty good. I'm a pretty good like.
Speaker 2: There's a rule I think a lot of people use
Speaker 2: is if you're kind. If you're not kind of white stuff,
Speaker 2: and then you're not a good person.
Speaker 1: It's a good one. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think it's a pretty good gauge if you
Speaker 2: think you're above anyone else. Yeah, the good gage is
Speaker 2: is white stuff. I think hospitality. If you're route to
Speaker 2: the bartender or to the waiter, you're like, no, you're not,
Speaker 2: you're not a good person.
Speaker 1: That's a good one. Another dating question, who should pay
Speaker 1: on a first date?
Speaker 2: Whoever wants to pay? I love that quality guys, that's right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: whoever like you might want to. I mean I'll always offer,
Speaker 2: but if they want to pay as well, then I
Speaker 2: think we live in a world now where I mean,
Speaker 2: I know that the pay gap is still ridiculous, but
Speaker 2: we still live in a world I think where we
Speaker 2: need to empower women, and I don't think, well, I
Speaker 2: don't know. I would like to think that women don't
Speaker 2: need to be paid paid for. I mean, but there's
Speaker 2: not to say that that men shouldn't definitely offer. I
Speaker 2: think there's still as a weird gray area there isn't it.
Speaker 2: Men should be chivalrous yet not too overpowering. Good luck,
Speaker 2: we're that guys. It's a kind of weird area that
Speaker 2: we're living in now. But I like to think that
Speaker 2: it goes, it goes both ways.
Speaker 1: I love that answer. Lastly, thoughts on Lindsay Lohan judging
Speaker 1: the masked singer.
Speaker 2: She has no idea who anyone? Why is she there?
Speaker 2: She didn't I saw it at the races. I don't
Speaker 2: think she even recognized it.
Speaker 1: Like, it's a wolf. Come on, we picked you as
Speaker 1: the wolf for the second. We picked you as the
Speaker 1: wolf the second you were on, Like the first song,
Speaker 1: We're like, that's milsy. As I'm sure a.
Speaker 2: Lot of people it was pretty. It's pretty. It was
Speaker 2: the worst kept secret. Also, I feel like those producers
Speaker 2: basically told my life story in the first line of clues.
Speaker 2: So they're not really close mate, that's just my resume now.
Speaker 2: But yeah, super fun times. I think I think he's
Speaker 2: I think he's a good value.
Speaker 1: Yeah, got a lover her on me and girls. I
Speaker 1: was gonna We just wanted to finish up the interview
Speaker 1: by sort of hoping you can help us relive our
Speaker 1: teenage years. We loved your album up all night. I
Speaker 1: think it was the most underrated Australian idol album.
Speaker 2: People, not as fans, industry people as well. Thank you.
Speaker 1: But all the songs are amazing. I suppose be cause
Speaker 1: guys first album they were sort of written for I
Speaker 1: suppose any of you guys. But can you sing us
Speaker 1: a little bit of dirty Girl? It was our favorite?
Speaker 1: If you remember it?
Speaker 2: I do, I do remember it? But can I can
Speaker 2: I politely pass and you just play play it? Play
Speaker 2: it in the podcast?
Speaker 1: What about a line? Just a line?
Speaker 2: Girl? Oh yeah, sure, ebscellute love it?
Speaker 1: Thank you, MILSI Well, actually I lie. We'll just ask
Speaker 1: you one more question. What have you got planned for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty?
Speaker 2: Twenty twenty looks like I'm hoping to get my UKVS
Speaker 2: out and move over to London and try try and
Speaker 2: get on a West End shore. That's that's my that's
Speaker 2: my dream this year. And also I will finally now
Speaker 2: that I have some time this year, finish writing this
Speaker 2: new one man show of mine. So that's I did
Speaker 2: a show in twenty fifteen called Rob Mills Are Surprisingly Good,
Speaker 2: which was surprisingly good the Cabaret the Sydney Theater Awards.
Speaker 2: So I am hoping to add to that to just yeah,
Speaker 2: just do a new show about my thoughts and my
Speaker 2: love of Australia. So it'll be an ausy kind of show,
Speaker 2: but fun and entertaining and thought provoking. That's the plan.
Speaker 1: Oh well, we can't wait to see it. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much again for joining us. We've had such a
Speaker 1: great time chatting with you.
Speaker 2: Thanks guys, thanks for having.
Speaker 1: Me, No right, thank you, thank you so much for listening.
Speaker 1: If you did enjoy the episode, please leave us a
Speaker 1: review and also if you'd like to continue the conversation,
Speaker 1: you'll find us on Instagram at Outspoken Underscore The Underscore
Speaker 1: Podcast m m
Speaker 2: HM